Unit 2: Nervous Control Flashcards
What are the names of the two nervous systems that the human nervous system can be broken down into?
Central Nervous system and Peripheral Nervous System
What is included in the CNS?
The brain, spinal cord and interneurones
What is included in the PNS
Everything else in the body except brain and spinal cord and motor and sensory neurones.
What do sensory neurones do?
receive input from receptors
What do motor neurones do?
Produce an output to the muscles and glands.
What two nervous systems can motor neurones be further broken down into?
Somatic Nervous System and Autonomic Nervous System
What does the somatic nervous system do? Which muscles does the output go to?
deals with voluntary responses. Skeletal muscles
What does the autonomic nervous system do? Which muscles does the output go to?
deals with involuntary responses. Output goes to smooth muscles and the glands.
What two neurones can the autonomic nervous system be broke down into?
the sympathetic and parasympathetic neurones.
What does the sympathetic pathway do?
deals with fight or flight responses.
What can the sympathetic pathway also be referred to as?
The Adrenergic System
What is the neurotransmitter for the sympathetic nervous system?
Noradrenaline
What does the parasympathetic pathway do?
deals with relaxing responses.
What can the parasympathetic pathway also be referred as?
The cholinergic system
What is the neurotransmitter for the parasympathetic pathway?
acetylcholine
Explain the reflex arc, starting with a stimulus of heat finishing at the response it would bring.
- receptors in the skin detect the temperature
- sensory neurones send nerve impulses to spinal cord
- relay neurones links the sensory neurone to the motor neurone in the spinal cord
- motor neurone sends nerve impulse from spinal cord to effector
- effector stimulated to contract.
- hand moved away (response)
Why are involuntary responses important for survival? (3 points)
- as it is done involuntary, brain doesn’t have to think about the response and so it is not overloaded with too much information.
- fast as there is a short pathway
- protects the body from harmful stimuli
Give some examples of the involuntary jobs that the autonomic nervous system does.
breathing, homeostasis, digestion, posture
Describe what type of relationship the parasympathetic and sympathetic pathway have with each other?
an antagonistic relationship.
Give the names of the three parts of the brain that are involved in involuntary functions
Medulla Oblongata, Hypothalamus, pituitary glands
What does the Medulla Oblongata control?
the heart rate
What does the hypothalamus control?
homeostasis
What does the pituitary glands control?
the secretion of LH and FSH
